Doors are often secured with either a dead bolt and/or a chain from the door to the door frame. Most commonly such locking mechanisms are located on the exterior doors of a structure such as a residential home or building (e.g., office building, school etc.). While deadbolt locks provide significant deterrence to unauthorized entry, these devices are not commonly utilized for interior doors within a structure. Interior doors, if they include a locking mechanism, most commonly utilize a door knob or latch lock. Such door knob locks are most commonly utilized to ensure privacy. However, door knob locks typically fail to provide deterrence to forced entry. Such locks often fail upon one or more blows to the door (e.g., kick, etc.) that often result in dislodging of the door to the extent that the door opens.
Recent concerns relating to locking or securing interior doors include home invasion and/or active shooter situations (e.g., in offices, schools etc.) where an intruder has already entered a structure. In such situations, occupants of such a structure are often encouraged to shelter in-place, for instance, in an interior room having a locking door. By way of example, some schools have recently held drills where students train to barricade classroom doors with furniture and other available items to prevent intruder entry. The effectiveness of sheltering in-place depends on preventing an intruder from accessing a room in which occupants are sheltering.
Based on this background, the present disclosure is directed to a doorstop that may be retrofit to an existing door and deployed by a user and/or automatically to prevent the door from being opened.